Flat Panel Screen TV's?

[Topper]

I use this tv stand. It is nice to be able to turn the screen. Made by Whalen furniture and is available at Best Buy:

 

[Acklander]

We have our 52" flat screen hanging on the wall and I love it all the wires are hidden behind the wall. Then I bought a nice long cabinet to go underneath which has all the components. We had someone install it

Same here, I LOVE not seeing all the wires. It's so much less cluttered looking and the cabinet below it holds all the extra "stuff" and DVD's. Not a wire to be seen anywhere.

 

[bicker]

We are thinking of mounting our tv over the fireplace in the living room.

This is a bad idea, imho. It isn't the heat of the fireplace, or the weight, that I would worry about, but rather the effect on your neck. If we were meant to keep our heads pointed in that direction for extended period of times, the underside of our necks would be a pretty part of the body.

Ideally, televisions should be mounted or situated so that the middle of the screen is at eye level when seated. That's one reason why, with all the big screen televisions, it was necessary for furniture manufacturers to start making specific stands, much closer to th ground than ever before -- the screens were larger, so the had to be placed closer to the floor than older televisions typically were placed.

Just from a design standpoint, televisions, though so much effort has been made to make them more attractive, are not designer appointments. They're not pretty; they don't fit with any decor other than if you were decorating your home to look like the Starship Enterprise. The best design approach, vis a vis HDTVs, imho, is to make the thing fall into the background as much as possible. Ideally, someone would walk into your living room and say, "Oh! You do have a television. I didn't see it initially." (Okay, that's not likely, but again, it's an ideal.)

At worst, I wouldn't mount a television any higher than with the bottom of the television at eye level when seated.

Here is another reference you'll want to consult. It indicates how far from your eyes your television should be placed. That consideration, itself, may invalidate mounting it on the wall:

http://hdguru.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/hdtv_distance_chart.pdf

 

[luvmy3]

Thanks everyone for your responses. I think we will likely just leave the tv on the stand we have for it.

BUMPING for more responses.

You can always decide after to put it on the wall.
We just got a new one and I had every intention of mounting it, but dh wanted to wire surround sound and reroute the cable wire so we just stuck it on the cabinet where the old TV was. It turns out its just fine there so thats where it will stay.

 

[hulagirl87]

I voted "other" because one of ours is on a stand and one of our is on the wall

 

[pixiewings71]

Ours is on the wall, mounted with a wall bracket, hooked up to surround sound and the wires are all hidden in the wall behind the TV. For a while we had it just on a stand and I wasn't sure I was going to like it on the wall but I really do. It's at the perfect height to watch it. NOT above our fireplace tho, NO WAY, that would be way too high and it would totally throw the whole room off. The fireplace is on the wall next to the couch, with bookcases built in around it.

 

[momrek06]

I use this tv stand. It is nice to be able to turn the screen. Made by Whalen furniture and is available at Best Buy:

LOVE THIS TV STAND!!! I actually saw it yesterday at Best Buy after you posted. It is awesome.

Ours is on the wall, mounted with a wall bracket, hooked up to surround sound and the wires are all hidden in the wall behind the TV. For a while we had it just on a stand and I wasn't sure I was going to like it on the wall but I really do. It's at the perfect height to watch it. NOT above our fireplace tho, NO WAY, that would be way too high and it would totally throw the whole room off. The fireplace is on the wall next to the couch, with bookcases built in around it.

Yes, we got to thinking if we were to mount it above the FP, it would completely take away from the FP and throw off the whole room as you stated.......so we are going with a stand.